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A Prophet Condemns the Altar at Bethel

13 1-2 (A) One day, Jeroboam was standing at the altar in Bethel, ready to make an offering. Suddenly one of God's prophets[a] arrived from Judah and shouted:

The Lord sent me with a message about this altar. A child named Josiah will be born into David's family. He will sacrifice on this altar the priests who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on it.

You will know that the Lord has said these things when the altar splits in half, and the ashes on it fall to the ground.

Jeroboam pointed at the prophet and shouted, “Grab him!” But at once, Jeroboam's hand became stiff, and he could not move it.

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Footnotes

  1. 13.1,2 one of God's prophets: Hebrew “a man of God.”

By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah(A) will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places(B) who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’” That same day the man of God gave a sign:(C) “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.”

When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back.

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